Design selected for Armenian genocide memorial in Pasadena

The design by Catherine Menard – a student at the Art Center College
of Design, which submitted the concept to the Pasadena Armenian Genocide
Memorial Committee for consideration – was praised as an “an
emotionally compelling design” that would serve to “inspire a similar
emotional connection in those who encounter it, for generations to
come,” according to an announcement issued Tuesday.

The central feature of Menard's design -- a carved-stone basin of
water straddled by a tripod arrangement of three columns leaning into
one another -- is a single drop of water that falls from the highest
point every three seconds, each "teardrop" representing one life lost,
according to the college.

A rendering of the winning design was not immediately available.

Over the course of one year, 1.5 million “tears” will fall into the
pool, representing the estimated number of people who died during the
Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1918, which occurred under the Ottoman Empire, or what is now the modern republic of Turkey.

The Turkish government disputes that a genocide occurred, claiming the victims were killed in the chaos of World War I.

The project is slated for Memorial Park in Pasadena and is expected
to be completed by April 24, 2015, the 100th anniversary for
commemorations of the genocide.

Menard, a 26-year-old of French Cajun heritage who is majoring in
environmental design at the college, had to first immerse herself in
the brutal history of the Armenian people to come up with concept.

In a statement, Menard said the research process was engrossing and inspirational.

"At first I felt unworthy -- who am I to respond to such loss?” she
said. “But art lends itself to the deepest, darkest parts of human
experience. It can create sympathy, empathy, understanding. I wanted to
pair this horror with something uplifting and beautiful, to create a way
to remember.

"I developed three different ideas and settled on the one that I felt most terrified and most moved by."